RESEARCH PAPER
The scientistic worldview and its relationships with fear of COVID, conspiracy beliefs, preventive behaviors, and attitudes towards vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Polish sample
 
 
More details
Hide details
1
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Łukasz Jach   

Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia, 53 Grażyńskiego Str., 40-126 Katowice, Poland, e-mail: lukasz.jach@us.edu.pl
Submission date: 2021-05-20
Final revision date: 2021-11-08
Acceptance date: 2021-11-15
Online publication date: 2022-11-09
 
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
The scientistic worldview is characterized by the tendency to justify beliefs and behavior with scientific findings and to function on the basis of theorems and opinions formulated by scientists. The aim of this study was to test whether the attitudes typical for the scientistic worldview could be related to beliefs and behaviors that may reduce the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19.

Participants and procedure:
The study was conducted on a Polish sample of 1286 participants, using an online survey platform. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires to measure attitudes towards vaccines on COVID-19, the scientistic worldview, fear of COVID, conspiracy beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic, and preventive behaviors undertaken. Participants were also asked about their personal experiences with the pandemic.

Results:
The study showed that the scientistic worldview was associated with a higher fear of COVID, a higher level of con-tainment-related behavior, a lower level of conspiracy beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic, and more positive atti-tudes towards vaccination against COVID-19. A structural model of relations between the studied variables turned out to be very effective and explained 51% of the variance of containment-related behavior and 63% of the variance of attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccines.

Conclusions:
The study found that preventive behaviors and attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 were weakly related to personal experiences during the pandemic but significantly correlated with psychological variables. The results suggest that very positive, scientistic attitudes towards science may be related to higher adherence to science-based public health recommendations.

 
REFERENCES (68)
1.
Attema, A. E., L’Haridon, O., Raude, J., Seror, V., & The COCONEL Group (2021). Beliefs and risk perceptions about COVID-19: Evidence from two successive French representative surveys during lockdown. Fron-tiers in Psychology, 12, 619145. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
 
2.
Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C. Y., Imani, V., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M. D., & Pakpour, A. H. (2020). The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and initial validation. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469....
 
3.
Anwar, A., Malik, M., Raees, V., & Anwar, A. (2020) Role of mass media and public health communications in the COVID-19 pandemic. Cureus, 12, e10453. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus....
 
4.
Bauer, M. W. (2009). The evolution of public understanding of science – discourse and comparative evi-dence. Science, Technology and Society, 14, 221–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/097172....
 
5.
Bennett, M. (2020). Should I do as I’m told? Trust, experts, and COVID-19. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Jour-nal, 30, 243–263. https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.20....
 
6.
Bertin, P., Nera, K., & Delouvée, S. (2020) Conspiracy beliefs, rejection of vaccination, and support for hy-droxychloroquine: a conceptual replication-extension in the COVID-19 pandemic context. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 565128. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
 
7.
Carley, S., Horner, D., Body, R., & Mackway-Jones, K. (2020) Evidence-based medicine and COVID-19: What to believe and when to change. Emergency Medicine Journal, 37, 572–575. https://doi.org/10.1136/emerme....
 
8.
Chen, F. F. (2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equa-tion Modeling, 14, 464–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/107055....
 
9.
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invari-ance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328....
 
10.
Ciardi, F., Menon, V., Jensen, J. L., Shariff, M. A., Pillai, A., Venugopal, U., Kasubhai, M., Dimitrov, V., Kanna, B., & Poole, B. D. (2021). Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers of an inner-city hospital in New York. Vaccines 9, 516. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccin....
 
11.
Constantinou, M., Kagialis, A., & Karekla, M. (2021). COVID-19 scientific facts vs. conspiracy theories: Is sci-ence failing to pass its message? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 6343. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph....
 
12.
Čavojová, V., Šrol, J., & Ballová Mikušková, E. (2020). How scientific reasoning correlates with health-related beliefs and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic? Journal of Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910....
 
13.
Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Drinkwater, K. G., & Parker, A. (2019). An evaluation of the Belief in Science Scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 861. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
 
14.
Daniela-Luminița, B. (2016). Attitudes toward science and scientific literacy among Romanian young adults. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences, 48–58. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs....
 
15.
Detoc, M., Bruel, S., Frappe, P., Tardy, B., Botelho-Nevers, E., & Gagneux-Brunon, A. (2020). Intention to par-ticipate in a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial and to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in France during the pandemic. Vaccine, 38, 7002–7006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacc....
 
16.
Dohle, S., Wingen, T., & Schreiber, M. (2020). Acceptance and adoption of protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of trust in politics and trust in science. Social Psychological Bulletin, 15, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.4....
 
17.
Eberl, J. M., Huber, R. A., & Greussing, E. (2021) From populism to the “plandemic”: Why populists believe in COVID-19 conspiracies. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 31, 272–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/174572....
 
18.
European Commission (2020). Statement on scientific advice to European policy makers during the COVID-19 pan-demic. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/site....
 
19.
Evans, G., & Durant, J. (1995). The relationship between knowledge and attitudes in the public understanding of sci-ence in Britain. Public Understanding of Science, 4, 57–74. https://doi.org/10.1088/0963-6....
 
20.
Faasse, K., & Newby, J. (2020). Public perceptions of COVID-19 in Australia: Perceived risk, knowledge, health-protective behaviors, and vaccine intentions. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 551004. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
 
21.
Fadda, M., Albanese, E., & Suggs, L. S. (2020). When a COVID-19 vaccine is ready, will we all be ready for it? In-ternational Journal of Public Health, 65, 711–712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038....
 
22.
Farias, M., Newheiser, A. K., Kahane, G., & de Toledo, Z. (2013). Scientific faith: Belief in science increases in the face of stress and existential anxiety. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1210–1213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp....
 
23.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A. G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis pro-gram for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF0319....
 
24.
Fetterman, A. K., Rutjens, B. T., Landkammer, F., & Wilkowski, B. M. (2019). On post‐apocalyptic and doomsday prepping beliefs: a new measure, its correlates, and the motivation to prep. European Journal of Personality, 33, 506–525. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.22....
 
25.
Freeman, D., Waite, F., Rosebrock, L., Petit, A., Causier, C., East, A., Jenner, L., Teale, A. L., Carr, L., Mulhall, S., Bold, E., & Lambe, S. (2020). Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance with government guidelines in England. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00332....
 
26.
Gasparatou, R. (2017). Scientism and scientific thinking. Science & Education, 26, 799–812. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191....
 
27.
Hamilton, L. C., Hartter, J., & Saito, K. (2015). Trust in scientists on climate change and vaccines. SAGE Open, 5, 2158244015602752. https://doi.org/10.1177/215824....
 
28.
Hartman, R. O., Dieckmann, N. F., Sprenger, A. M., Stastny, B. J., & DeMarree, K. G. (2017) Modeling attitudes toward science: Development and validation of the Credibility of Science Scale. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 39, 358–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/019735....
 
29.
Hartman, T. K., Marshall, M., Stocks, T. V. A., McKay, R., Bennett, K., Butter, S., Gibson Miller, J., Hyland, P., Levita, L., Martinez, A. P., Mason, L., McBride, O., Murphy, J., Shevlin, M., Vallières, F., & Bentall, R. P. (2021). Different conspiracy theories have different psychological and social determinants: Comparison of three theories about the origins of the COVID-19 virus in a representative sample of the UK population. Frontiers in Political Science, 3, 642510. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2....
 
30.
Hendriks, F., Kienhues, D., & Bromme, R. (2016). Trust in science and the science of trust. In B. Blöbaum (Ed.),.
 
31.
Progress in IS. Trust and communication in a digitized world: Models and concepts of trust research (pp. 143–159). Springer International Publishing.
 
32.
Hietanen, J., Turunen, P., Hirvonen, I., Karisto, J., Pättiniemi, I., & Saarinen, H. (2020). How not to criticise scientism. Metaphilosophy, 51, 522–547. https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.1....
 
33.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Convention-al criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/107055....
 
34.
Imhoff, R., & Lamberty, P. (2020). A bioweapon or a hoax? The link between distinct conspiracy beliefs about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and pandemic behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11, 1110–1118. https://doi.org/10.1177/194855....
 
35.
Jach, Ł. (2015). Nauka jako obiekt kultu. Wprowadzenie do koncepcji scjentoteizmu [Science as an object of worship. Introduction to the theory of scientotheism]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
 
36.
Jach, Ł. (2019). Spotlight on scientotheism. Structure and psychometric properties of the questionnaire for the study of scientistic worldview aspects. The Review of Psychology, 62, 141–165.
 
37.
Jach, Ł. (2020). Światopogląd scjentystyczny – korelaty i uwarunkowania [Scientistic worldview – correlates and conditions]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
 
38.
Jach, Ł. (2021). How to distinguish a “scientoskeptic” from a “scientoenthusiast”? Psychometric properties and criteria for qualitative interpretation of the scores of the Views of Science Questionnaire in a Polish quota sample. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 9, 66–83. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2....
 
39.
Jach, Ł., & Buczek, A. (2021). Who says “yes” to science without ethics? Acceptance of the violation of ethical norms due to scientific reasons in the context of empathy, systemizing, and the scientistic worldview. Personality and Individual Differences, 179, 110950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid....
 
40.
Jach, Ł., & Chmiel, S. (2018). The reliability of advertising, the rule of social proof and the rule of scientific authority. Polish Journal of Economic Psychology, 13, 19–34. https://doi.org/10.15678/PJOEP....
 
41.
Jolley, D., & Douglas, K. M. (2014) The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions. PLoS One, 9, e89177. https://doi.org/10.1371/journa....
 
42.
Landrum, A., & Olshansky, A. (2019). The role of conspiracy mentality in denial of science and susceptibility to viral deception about science. Politics and the Life Sciences, 38, 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.20....
 
43.
Laugksch, R. C. (2000), Scientific literacy: a conceptual overview. Science Education, 84, 71–94. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)...<71::AID-SCE6>3.0.CO;2-C.
 
44.
Lee, S., & Kim, S. H. (2018). Scientific knowledge and attitudes toward science in South Korea: Does knowledge lead to favorable attitudes? Science Communication, 40, 147–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/107554....
 
45.
Lessl, T. M. (1996) Naturalizing science: Two episodes in the evolution of a rhetoric of scientism. Western Journal of Communication, 60, 379–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/105703....
 
46.
Lewandowsky, S., Gignac, G. E., & Oberauer, K. (2013) The role of conspiracist ideation and worldviews in predicting rejection of science. PLoS One, 8, e75637. https://doi.org/10.1371/journa....
 
47.
Makhanova, A., & Shepherd, M. A. (2020). Behavioral immune system linked to responses to the threat of COVID-19. Personality and Individual Differences, 167, 110221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid....
 
48.
Moradian, N., Ochs, H. D., Sedikies, C., Hamblin, M. R., Camargo, C. A., Martinez, J. A., Biamonte, J. D.,.
 
49.
Abdollahi, M., Torres, P. J., Nieto, J. J., Ogino, S., Seymour, J. F., Abraham, A., Cauda, V., Gupta, S., Ramakrishna, S., Sellke, F. W., Sorooshian, A., Wallace Hayes, A., Martinez-Urbistondo, M., … Rezaei, N. (2020). The urgent need for integrated science to fight COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Journal of Translational Medicine, 18, 205. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967....
 
50.
Motoki, K., Saito, T., & Takano, Y. (2021) Scientific literacy linked to attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccina-tions: a pre-registered study. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 707391. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.....
 
51.
Murphy, J., Vallières, F., Bentall, R.B., Shevlin, M., McBride, O., Hartman, T. K., McKay, R., Bennett, K., Mason, L., Gibson-Miller, J., Levita, L., Martinez, A. P., Stocks, T. V. A., Karatzias, T., & Hyland, P. (2021). Psycho-logical characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Nature Communications, 12, 29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467....
 
52.
Pennycook, G., Fugelsang, J. A., & Koehler, D. J. (2015). Everyday consequences of analytic thinking. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 425–432. https://doi.org/10.1177/096372....
 
53.
Pigliucci, M. (2013). New atheism and the scientistic turn in the atheism movement. Midwest Studies in Phi-losophy, 37, 142–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/misp.1....
 
54.
Pilch, I., Kurasz, Z., & Turska-Kawa, A. (2021). Experiencing fear during the pandemic: Validation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale in Polish. PeerJ, 9, e11263. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.....
 
55.
Pivetti, M., Melotti, G., Bonomo, M., & Hakoköngäs, E. (2021). Conspiracy beliefs and acceptance of.
 
56.
COVID-vaccine: an exploratory study in Italy. Social Sciences, 10, 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci....
 
57.
Plohl, N., & Musil, B. (2021). Modeling compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines: The critical role of trust in science. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 26, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/135485....
 
58.
Pramesh, C. S., Babu, G. R., Basu, J., Bhushan, I., Booth, C. M., Chinnaswamy, G., Guleria, R., Kalantri, S. P., Kang, G., Mohan, P., Mor, N., Pai, M., Prahash, M., Rupali, P., Sampathkumar, P., Sengar, M., Sullivan, R., & Ranganathan, P. (2021). Choosing wisely for COVID-19: Ten evidence-based recommendations for pa-tients and physicians. Nature Medicine, 27, 1324–1327. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591....
 
59.
Ross, D., Ladyman, J., & Spurrett, D. (2007). In defence of scientism. In J. Ladyman, D. Ross, D. Spurrett, & J. Collier (Eds). Every thing must go: Metaphysics naturalized (pp. 1–65). Oxford University Press.
 
60.
Sallam, M., Dababseh, D., Eid, H., Al-Mahzoum, K., Al-Haidar, A., Taim, D., Yaseen, A., Ababneh, N. A., Bakri, F. G., & Mahafzah, A. (2021) High rates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its association with conspiracy beliefs: a study in Jordan and Kuwait among other Arab countries. Vaccines, 9, 42. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccin....
 
61.
Shelus, V. S., Frank, S. C., Lazard, A. J., Higgins, I. C. A., Pulido, M., Richter, A. P. C., Vandegrift, S. M., Vereen, R. N., Ribisl, K. M., & Hall, M. G. (2020). Motivations and barriers for the use of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic: Messaging insights from focus groups. International Journal of Environmental Re-search and Public Health, 17, 9298. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph....
 
62.
Smith, N., & Thomas, S. J. (2021). Doomsday prepping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psycholo-gy, 12, 659925. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
 
63.
Soveri, A., Karlsson, L. C., Antfolk, J., Lindfelt, M., & Lewandowsky, S. (2021). Unwillingness to engage in be-haviors that protect against COVID-19: The role of conspiracy beliefs, trust, and endorsement of com-plementary and alternative medicine. BMC Public Health, 21, 684. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889....
 
64.
Tehrani, S., Killander, A., Åstrand, P., Jakobsson, J., & Gille-Johnson, P. (2021). Risk factors for death in adult COVID-19 patients: Frailty predicts fatal outcome in older patients. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 102, 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid....
 
65.
Uscinski, J. E., Enders, A. M., Klofstad, C. A., Seelig, M. I., Funchion, J. R., Everett, C., Wuchty, S., Premaratne, K., & Murthi, M. N. (2020). Why do people believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories? The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 1, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-20....
 
66.
van Mulukom, V., Pummerer, L. J., Alper, S. Bai, H., Čavojová, V., Farias, J., Kay, C. S., Lazarevic, L. B., Lobato, E. J. C., Gaëlle, M., Banai, I. P., Šrol, J., & Žeželj, I. (2020). COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs are predicted by ep-istemic and socio-existential motives: a dual pathway model and systematic review. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.i....
 
67.
Williams, R. N. (2015). Introduction. In R. N. Williams & D. N. Robinson (Eds.), Scientism: The new orthodoxy (pp. 1–22). Bloomsbury.
 
68.
World Health Organization (2020). Q&A: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencie....
 
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
eISSN:2353-561X
ISSN:2353-4192